This is a blog for my senior project at Basha High in Arizona. I'm going to do volunteer work and write about it here on my blog.

I-HELP is an organisaion that provides food and shelter for homeless. This group that I was volunteer working with is a new one and they try to figure out how everything will work out with how many people that will come every other sunday and how much they should cook.

The people I was working with.I've had two volunteer opportunities with I-HELP. The first time we had 16 homeless people that came in for food and shelter for the night. What I did was cleaning the tables, preparing lunch packages and putting things forward and serve the guests for dinner. This day we provided them with Chili, corn muffins, salad and pie. We got to sit down and talk to people and hear their stories. I met a man who'd been a commander in the Navy in Germany, he was very eager to tell his story and we also talked to two other women. Unfortunately, they didn't want me to take any pictures with them but I learned a great deal. After the dinner, we put out things they could bring for lunch the next day. They were also provided with showers and hygiene products.

Packing and preparing

This is how their lunch could look like

Dinner!

The other volunteer opportunity I had with this very nice group of people, we served the guests with pasta and meatballs + sauce, garlic bread, salad and cake. Unfortunately we only had two guests and no one to stay with them over night (like I said, it's a new group that have to figure some things out). We also provided them with lunch for the next day.

I-Help, through the assistance of the faith community, provides lodging, food, comfort, hope and opportunity for homeless women in the community.

I-Help, in collaboration with area congregations and non-profit organizations, will provide shelter, an evening meal and other supportive services such as case management, clothing and employment services to homeless.

- Provide shelter for homeless in your building

- Prepare a hot, nutritious evening meal.

- Sack lunches to nurture homeless for their next day.

- Transportation to and from the point of intake (Mesa CAN) to the host congregation.

Started the day at 7.45, we got t-shirts, water bottles and a bandana! We also got brakfast before everything started. They devided us into groups, we were around 200 people there. My group put together different parts of the playground. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of nice people! By 14.30 was the playground done! It was amazing to see how so many people worked together and were able to buildt a whole playground in a couple of hours!

"Our children are playing less than any previous generation, and this lack of play is causing them profound physical, intellectual, social, and emotional harm. Not enough playspaces are being built; those that exist are often in disrepair.

Kids are overscheduled

In their free time, many choose to stay indoors, lulled by television, computers and video games.

The Play Deficit is an important problem, and it is imperative that we solve it to ensure our children have long, healthy, and happy lives."

What they do:

Constructing innovative, kid-inspired playspaces, using a community-build model that improves the well-being of the children we serve as well as the neighborhoods in which they live. Sharing the knowledge and tools needed for anyone to find, improve, and/or build playgrounds on their own. Building a broad movement driven by research, analysis, policy, and community engagement.

In saving play, we are creating:

Healthier, happier, and smarter children

Greener cities

Better schools

Stronger neighborhoods

To date, KaBOOM! has built over 2,000 playgrounds, saving play for over 5.5 million children.

On saturday was my first volunteer occation. I had a lot to do since then, that's why this is a bit late.

We started the morning at 8. When we arrived to the house I had to sign some papers to be able to attend. I got questioned to get up on the roof, despite my fear of hights, I took a hammer, nail and a security helmet. I was working on the roof for a couple of hours and a nice blister on my thumb because I didn't wear gloves.

Around 11 was the lunch ready for us! It was really good and landed nicely in the belly after some working.

We worked for another couple of hours in the house since we finished the roof before lunch.

I had a great day with many happy and nice people! Habitat for humanity is amazing!